Michael McClure would have turned 92 Sunday, October 20, 2024. His book: Touching the Edge: Dharma Devotions from the Hummingbird Sangha may be the best Zen poetry written in English. It has influenced me considerably and prompted me three years ago to create my own series based on Michael’s called FLEXIBLE MIND. Yesterday I wrote the poem and spent a couple of hours creating a video of my reading. That I have taken the Buddhist precepts, now just less than a year ago, could be traced in part to Michael’s practice and Zen poetry. That many of the Beat poets were attracted to Buddhism validates the notion of an Open Form poetry practice as there is nothing I can see that is more open than Dōgen, the founder of Soto Zen, & Zen-inspired philosophers like Keiji Nishitani and Reverend Shundo Ayoyama. I am also grateful to my teacher, Kosho Itagaki and his “dharma basement” where many delusions end. Enjoy: